


Sucker for Remnant

by Garr44



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Earth, Dhampir, F/M, Half-Human, Half-Vampires, OC, Special Forces, Super Soldier
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2020-11-27 15:50:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20950949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Garr44/pseuds/Garr44
Summary: Simon Rossi has lived the life of a soldier, the elite of the elites, and is now attending Beacon Huntsman Academy to learn of his new home and train to fight enemies he's never faced before. A stranger to these lands, he'll be joined by teams RWBY and JNPR to better himself and them in the world of Remnant. (Tags will be added over the course of the story)





	1. ???

_THUMP-THUMP_

_..._

_Hisss..._

_..._

_THUMP-THUMP_

_..._

_Hahhh..._

_..._

_THUMP-THUMP_

_..._

_Hisss..._

_..._

_THUMP-THUMP_

_..._

_Hahhh..._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_The crackling of fire... fire all around... fueled by the leaking fuel from the plane._

_The rapid _ping-ping_ of bullets firing off from the intense heat._

_The static of a radio, torn from its place on somebody's shoulder, now lying next to a pile of bent metal and debris._

_A pile of debris, serving as a temporary prison, was now being pushed by its prisoner. It took a little bit of time, but the person managed to push part of the wreck off of him. He rested for a moment before rolling over onto his hands and knees, and then standing up on wobbly legs, holding his side to reach the radio and call for assistance. He managed to pick it up, but one look at its smashed appearance told him all he needed to know:_

_He was all alone in the middle of nowhere in hostile territory, and with limited supplies._

_He stored the mangled in one of his hip pouches before turning back to the wreck. The cockpit was ripped from the rest of the plane in the crash and wasn't burning. Good. He walked around to the open back before stepping up onto the cockpit's floor and looked around. It wasn't long before he spotted his shotgun, still in place next to the pilot's seat barrel-up. He walked over and pulled it out of its slot before loading a shell into its chamber. He still had a few spare shotgun shells on him, but it'd be best to get moving and not wait to see if and how many hostiles would be heading to the crashsite. He grabbed a nearby first-aid kit off the wall and clipped it to his belt, holding off using it until he reached somewhere safer. Finally, he picked up his full-head helmet that he'd removed before the plane started malfunctioning._

_The soldier stepped out of the plane and back onto the dirt before looping back around to his original spot. He took one last look at the still-burning wreck before he turned and started limping away into the forest. Unfortunately, he didn't get very far before his wounded leg gave out from under him. He fell to the ground with a grunt, and was placing his hands on the ground, ready to push himself back up when he heard it._

_Growling._

_He looked up, and saw... _something _walking from behind a tree deeper in the forest. Another one came out and joined the other._

_And another._

_And another. _

_The things, which looked like large, black, bone-covered wolf-like creatures with orange eyes, began to advance towards the wounded man, who's pump-action shotgun was lying on the ground in front of him._

_"What the _fuck _are these things?!" was all he could say before the first creature lunged at him, mouth wide open and claws out._


	2. Volume 1, Chapter 1: Initiation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new arrivals to Beacon Academy enter the initiaion that will allow them to form teams and attend the school.

All the first-years at Beacon were lined up at the cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest. They stood on silver tiles pointing towards the forest while Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Glynda Goodwitch stood in front of them holding their signature mug and tablet, respectively.

“For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be tested in the Emerald Forest,” Ozpin spoke to the students. Glynda took the opportunity to speak up.

“Now, I’m sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates… _today_.”

“What? Ohhh…” A student, Ruby Rose, groaned out while Ozpin continued.

“These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So, it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years.”

Ruby couldn’t hold in her shock and let out a “WHAAAAAT?!” while another girl in pink with orange hair turned to a boy in green and said, “See? I _told _you-!”

“After you’ve partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest,” Ozpin interrupted. “You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path… or you _will _die.”

A blond in a black hoodie and armor, Jaune Arc, laughed nervously before gulping loudly.

“You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Any questions?”

Jaune raised his hand and said, “Yeah, um, sir?”

“Good!” Ozpin said, ignoring Jaune. “Now, take your positions.”

Everyone began to strike poses as they got ready to be launched. Jaune, however, was still raising his hand.

“Uh, sir? I’ve got, um… a question. So, this landing… strategy thing… Uh, wha-what is it? You’re, like, dropping us off or something like that?” He asked, unaware of students being launched from their platforms.

“No. You will be falling,” the headmaster answered.

“Oh, uh, I see… So, did you hand out parachutes for us?”

“No. you will be using your own landing strategy.”

“Uh-huh… Yeah.” Jaune said, still not noticing the students before him being launched into the forest.

When it came to her turn, Ruby’s older half-sister Yang Xiao Long winked at her before putting on her aviator sunglasses. She flew off with a “Woo-hoooooooo!” a second before her little sister joined her.

“So, what exactly is a landing strategYYY?!” Jaune asked right when his platform launched him into the sky. Ozpin simply looked to the cloud of students making their way down into the Emerald Forest as he took a sip from his mug.

* * *

Over the Emerald Forest, a bird was flying gracefully through the air until it let out a shriek and was turned into a cloud of feathers by a certain red-and-black-clothed scythe-wielder.

“Birdie, no!”

Ruby then fired off her High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe, Crescent Rose, a few times to slow her descent to the forest floor. She transformed her weapon into its scythe form and rammed the blade into a tree, sliding down at a slower pace.

* * *

Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, used her rapier to summon a glyph to land on and then jumped to the forest below her. Landing gracefully, she took a moment before running off deeper into the tree line.

* * *

Lie Ren, the boy in green, descended through and spun in the air before using the blades of his weapons, StormFlower, to spiral around one of the giant trees of the Emerald Forest. He hit the ground and brushed off his clothes, but then a sound caused him to look up and see…

* * *

“WOO-HOO! YEAH! ALLEY-OOP!”

Yang sailed over the treetops using her gauntlets to propel herself further and further through the air. She eventually crashed through the leaves of a tree and leaped off the trunks of two others and tumbled to the ground.

“Nailed it!” she called out as she ran off.

* * *

Famed tournament fighter Pyrrha Nikos crashed through the trees with her sword and shield. She rolled on a branch before shifting her sword into its rifle form. She looked through the scope to see a screaming Jaune still falling helplessly through the air. Pyrrha transformed her rifle into its spear form and took a moment to evaluate her throw, and then threw it through the forest until...

_THUNK!_

A distant “Thank you!” from Jaune was answered with an “I’m sorry!” and a wave from Pyrrha.

* * *

Back in the middle of the forest, Ruby landed on the ground in a crouch before darting off with a single mantra: _‘Gotta find Yang! Gotta find Yang, gotta find Yang, gotta find…’ _Ruby paused her mantra with a shout of her sister’s name. She resumed her mantra, though it eventually progressed to her imagining of other people she’s met at Beacon so far.

_‘Oh, this is bad, this is really bad… What if I can’t find her? What if someone finds her first? Well, there’s always Jaune. He’s nice, funny… don’t think he’s very good in a fight though. Ooh! What about Blake?! So mysterious, so calm, _and _she_ _likes books! Then again, I doubt I’d be able to hold a conversation with her… UGH!... Okay… who else do I know in this school? There’s Yang, Jaune, Blake, aaaand- ‘_

Ruby and her thoughts stopped as she skidded to a halt in front of the fourth person she knows (and not for a good reason).

Weiss Schnee, the girl who created a cloud of Dust and made Ruby sneeze, engulfing the two of them in an explosion. _On the first day._

Back to the two students, a pregnant pause followed them as their eyes meet, cementing them as partners. The pause was broken when Weiss turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Ruby to weakly follow her.

“Wait! Where are you going?!” she exclaimed, only to stop and give a dejected kick to the ground. “We’re supposed to be teammates…”

The high-class fencer pushed through the plants and shrubbery of the forest with the occasional “Ow!” or grunt when she ran into a branch. She managed to reach an opening and took the time to brush off any leaves and twigs off her person. She sighed in relief before hearing a voice above her.

“Come on, come on! Stupid…!”

Weiss looked up to see Jaune pinned to a tree by a spear through his hood and, from the struggle he’s having with pulling it out, wasn’t going anywhere. He gave up after a few moments before he look down and saw Weiss below. All Jaune could muster up was an embarrassed wave.

Deciding to go with the lesser of two annoyances, Weiss turned around and walked back the way she came, leaving Jaune to groan. Ruby hadn’t left the area by the time Weiss came and passed her, grabbing her hood with a, “By no means does this make us friends.”

“You came back!” Ruby said, overjoyed as she was dragged away into the bushes. Watching from his elevated position, Jaune waved his arms in an attempt to get their attention.

“Wait! Come back! Who’s going to get me down from here?!”

“Jaune?” a voice spoke from below.

Jaune looked down and saw Pyrrha, the girl whose spear was still keeping him to the tree, looking up at him. Back at the school, Jaune had tried (and failed) to flirt Weiss and Pyrrha onto his team. It ended with him being sent against a locker by her spear when he got too close to Weiss.

“Do you… have any spots left on your team?”

Jaune crossed his arms and said, “Very funny,” before looking back down at her with a smile which she returned.

* * *

Not too far from the newest set of partners, Weiss trudged through the forest with Ruby way behind her taking her time.

“What’s the rush?” the red reaper asked.

“I will not let my mission be delayed because you’re too slow! I swear, if I get a bad grade because of your- What the…!” Weiss answered but was taken by surprise when Ruby used her speed semblance to suddenly move next to her.

“I’m not slow, see? You don’t have to worry about me!”

Weiss looked back to where Ruby was just a second ago in amazement, letting out a, “When did…?”

Ignoring Weiss’s confusion, Ruby continued, “Weiss, just because I don’t exactly know how to deal with people doesn’t mean I don’t know how to deal with monsters!” She put an arm around the snow-themed girl’s shoulder, “You’re about to see a whole different side of me today, Weiss, and after it’s all over, you’re going to be like, ‘Wow! That Ruby girl is really, really cool… and I wanna be her friend!”

With that, Ruby once again used her semblance to dash away from Weiss, who was waving away the shower rose petals she left behind when she heard rustling and crackling in the bushes around her.

“You may be fast, but you still excel at wasting time!” Weiss called out to her partner but was only answered with more noises. It was silent otherwise. “Ruby?” Weiss asked, leaning in due to the forest getting darker unaware of _something _glaring behind her, its red eyes standing out in the dark. It was soon joined by others.

A growl caused Weiss to turn around, where she spotted a large, jagged Beowolf emerging from the bushes and approaching its prey.

“RUBY!” Weiss called out one last time before the Beowolf roared.


	3. Volume 1, Chapter 2: Players and Pieces in the Emerald Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Beacon's initiation continues, more partners are made, Grimm are fought, "relics" are secured, and teams are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long wait for this. I've been having some real-life things keeping me from writing and uploading quickly. I'll do what I can to update faster.

Yang Xiao Long was walking through the forest looking around at the trees and bushes while calling out to anybody that might be within earshot.

“Helloooooooo? Is anyone out there? _Helloooo_?” She paused to toss her hands up into the air. “I’m getting bored here!”

Her attention was drawn to some bushes behind her when she heard something rustling from within. “Is someone there?” she asked in the direction of the noisy plants. She walked over and peaked inside them with, “Ruby, is that you?”

Yang’s head looking up at the creature that rose from the plants confirmed that, no, it wasn’t Ruby.

Rather, it was a very pissed-off Ursa, a Grimm in the form of a bear.

“Nope!” Yang said as she rolled to the side and out of the path of the beast’s charge out of the bushes. Getting back to her feet, she activated Ember Celica — a pair of forearm-mounted shotguns that doubled as bracelets — just in time for another Ursa ran out behind her. Yang leaped over it, and then sent the first one flying with a fiery punch when it charged at her again. The second one joined its comrade a few seconds later.

“You guys wouldn’t happen to have seen a girl in a red hood with a scythe, would you?” Yang asked the two bears, who merely growled at their enemy.

“You could just say ‘no’.”

One of the Ursa took the chance to stand on its hind legs and swipe at the blonde brawler twice with its very strong paws. Unfortunately for the creature, Yang barely dodged the hits, though it did nothing to break her joking mood.

“Geeeez, neither of you could hit the broad side of a ba-…” Yang’s laughter was interrupted when she saw something float down past her face and to the ground.

Something gold…

The same gold as her hair.

Which now had a lock floating down to the forest floor.

Oh.

Oh!

_Oh!_

Nobody.

** _NOBODY_ ** **.**

_Touches._

Yang Xiao Long’s.

God.

_Damned._

**_HAIR_**.

“You… you _monster_!” Yang screamed as her lilac eyes turned red, and an intense inferno surrounded her. The two Ursai could only look at each other with confusion before the pissed-off blonde rocketed forward. When she reached the Grimm, she unleashed the Holy Grail of whoop-ass on the being of darkness in mere seconds.

The offending bear was met with a devastating barrage of flaming hits and blows which caused it to go through several trees burning thanks to Yang’s rage. The other Ursa charged at the brawler but stopped short of her glare.

**“What**?!**You want some too**?!”

The Grimm responded with an unintelligible noise and a jerky swipe forward with its paw as it fell down, revealing Blake Belladonna behind it with her weapon, Gambol Shroud, planted in its back. Ruby met the ninja-like girl after blowing herself and Weiss up in the courtyard and met her again with Yang in the ballroom the night before initiation. Speaking of the blonde, Yang had been panting while Blake pulled Gambol Shroud out from the Ursa, which was starting to dissolve into smoke, and sheathed it on her back before focusing on Yang.

“I could’ve taken him,” a now‑lilac‑eyed Yang said to her new partner.

* * *

Weiss Schnee deflected the swipe from a Beowolf but was pushed back into the center of the circle of beasts from the force. Regaining her footing, she got into the stance from years of training.

_‘Remember your training, Weiss. Head up, shoulders back, left foot forward — not that forward! — slow your breathing, wait for the right time to strike, and…_ **_now_**_!_

Weiss spun the cylinder of her rapier and dashed to the Beowolf in front of her but was taken by surprise when a red-and-black blur of rose petals rushed in-between the heiress and Grimm, swiping at and hitting the latter with her scythe.

“Gotcha!” Ruby shouted.

Weiss let out a scream as she did what she could to quickly stop her charge and avoid hitting the huntress‑in‑training and swung her rapier in a random direction. This sent a line of fire from the Dust she’d loaded that hit a nearby tree, setting it ablaze. The fire continued on and spread to the other trees around the clearing. This gained the attention of Ruby, who paused mid-fight to see the small forest fire Weiss accidentally created. Unfortunately, this created a small opening that allowed the Beowolf she hit to hit her weapon, sending her colliding with Weiss.

“Hey, watch it!” the red-themed Huntress-in-training shouted.

“Excuse me! You attacked out of turn! I could’ve killed you!” her unwilling partner countered back.

“You’ll have to try a lot harder than _that_…”

The duo’s argument was interrupted by the whines and growls of the Beowolves surrounding them. Ruby reloaded Crescent Rose and got into a combat position alongside Weiss. Their preparation to attack the Grimm was stopped when a tree, consumed by the flames of Weiss’s failed charge, fell to the forest floor near them. Taking advantage of the tree distracting the Beowolves, Weiss grabbed Ruby’s arm.

“We have to _go_!” She shouted as she dragged her partner out of the blaze which was now beginning to engulf the grass. Their prey running away, some of the Beowolves attempted to give chase only to catch fire and burn while the others ran into the forest in search of safety from the smoke and fire.

Speaking of safety, Weiss and Ruby had managed to run far enough that they could pause without worrying about the forest fire. The former leaned over while panting while the latter looked over her shoulder back to the way they came, where smoke was rising over the trees.

“What was _that_?! That should’ve been easy!” Ruby yelled in disbelief.

“Well, perhaps if you had exercised even the _slightest _amount of caution with the placement of your strikes,” Weiss said, now standing upright, “I would not have set the forest on **fire**.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ruby asked with a scoff.

“I’m just surprised someone who talks so _much_ would communicate so _little _during an encounter!”

“Well, I’m sorry you need my help to win a fight. I’m just fine on my own!”

“Well, congratulations on being the strongest _child_ to sneak your way into Beacon. **Bravo**!”

Weiss began walking again leaving Ruby behind for the second time that day. Ruby let out an agitated shriek as she unfolded Crescent Rose and used it to slice a nearby tree to the stump. Most of her aggravation let out, she refolded her scythe and began to follow her partner as the forest giant fell to the ground.

Neither of the Huntresses-in-training noticed the large, black feather that floated down from the sky to land on the trunk of the fallen tree.

* * *

While things were heating up with Weiss and Ruby, Pyrrha and Jaune were making their way through the brushes across the forest. Jaune turned his head towards a series of noises followed by an animalistic roar of pain.

“Did you hear any of that?” He asked his partner.

“Gunfire. Automatic to be specific. It seems some of our comrades have encountered the enemy.” She answered as they kept moving forward.

Pyrrha moved a branch to the side to get past it, but Jaune, still staring into the direction of the gunfire, didn’t see it and was instantly knocked to the ground when it whipped back into his face.

“Jaune! I’m sorry!” Pyrrha said when she heard him fall and turned her head to look over her shoulder to see him holding his cheek.

Her partner simply laughed and lowered his hand, showing her the gash the branch had left on his cheek.

“It’s okay. Just a scratch!” Jaune said as he got back to his feet while Pyrrha approached him. She took notice of his gash remaining after a few moments.

“Why didn’t you activate your Aura?” she asked.

“Huh?” came Jaune’s confused reply.

“Your Aura.”

“Gesundheit.”

Clearly Jaune had no idea what she was talking about.

“Jaune, do you… know what Aura is?” Pyrrha asked after some hesitation.

“Psch! Of course, I do. Do _you_ know what Aura is?” Jaune asked after waving her question off, though he avoided eye contact while speaking.

Pyrrha simply smiled as she began to teach Jaune what she could about Aura, the manifestation of one’s very soul.

* * *

While Pyrrha and Jaune were conversing, Lie Ren was walking through the forest’s tall grass. At one point he stopped and began to look around himself with narrowed eyes. The cause for his alert state slowly rose above the grass behind him: a huge, black, Grimm serpent that quickly surrounded him with its large, hissing body. Ren responded by getting into a fighting stance just as the snake—now coiled in front of him—lunged at him with its fangs. Ren leaped out of the way causing it to hit the ground and then hit him mid-air with its snout.

Ren landed in a crouch as the serpent encircled him yet again. This time he drew StormFlower from his sleeves and jumped through the hole the creature made in order to start shooting it. On his descent the snake tried to bite again, only to receive a kick and a slash to the face knocking it to the ground. It got back up in an attempt at the same attack, but Ren managed to flip over it and drive the blades on his pistols into its head.

He paused for a moment, unaware that the second head of the creature—white instead of black with the same red markings—rise up behind him.

Ren turned and noticed it just as it lunged at him, barely dodging its wide open mouth. He landed and, seeing that it had begun to slither towards him, waited. When it got within range, he ran at it and leaped onto the black head before sliding over its body and shooting the other head.

Unfortunately, Ren wasn’t prepared for the white half to hit him through the bullets he was sending towards it, knocking him off its back and causing him to drop his guns to the forest floor, one sticking into the ground via its blade. The snake once again lunged at its now-defenseless prey who could only let out a “No!” as he raised his arms …

And held the Grimm’s fangs in his hands, a faint pink pulsing as he tightened his grip before yanking them as hard as he could, breaking them out of its mouth. The creature flailed away for a bit for attempting another bite only to receive one of its stolen fangs being stabbed into its eye. Ren followed up with a twist of his arm into a final blow which sends the fang through its skull, blowing it up and killing the black head.

Wasting no time, he ran at the white head to finish it off...

**(A few minutes later)**

Ren slipped his retrieved pistols back into his sleeves while standing over the now-fully dead snake. His dusting off his sleeves was stopped when a noise similar to a bird call rang from the trees. Looking behind him, his best friend Nora Valkyrie leaned down to him from a branch.

“I still don’t think that’s what a sloth sounds like,” he said with a small chuckle.

“Boop!” Nora replied with a poke to his nose causing him to smile.

* * *

Back at the cliffs, Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch watched the initiates on their scrolls. Ozpin watched Ruby and Weiss pacing through the forest when Goodwitch walked up from behind him with her own tablet.

“The last pair has been formed sir,” she said, tapping the screen to show Ren and Nora together (not together-together). “Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy… I can’t possibly imagine those two getting along. Still, he’s probably better off than Miss Nikos.” she said as she switched the screen to show Jaune and Pyrrha.

Ozpin only let out a “Mmmm” in response, never looking up from his tablet.

Goodwitch continued, “I don’t care what his transcripts say; that Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat.” She deactivated her tablet, turned around, and began to walk away. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple within a few minutes.” She paused and turned back to Ozpin, still eyeing his screen. “Speaking of which, what did you use for the relics this year?”

Ozpin didn’t say anything.

“Headmaster Ozpin?”

Ozpin continued to remain silent, focus almost entirely on his tablet. The screen showed Ruby Rose sitting in the grass, picking stray leaves as her “partner” Weiss Schnee paced in random directions around her.

* * *

“It’s definitely this way. I mean … this way! It’s _definitely _this way.” She stopped her pacing in front of Ruby. “Alright, it’s official: We passed it.”

Ruby stood up from the ground. “Weiss, why can’t you just admit that you have no idea where we’re going?”

“Because I know _exactly _where we’re going! We’re going … to … the forest temple!”

Ruby only responded with a sigh of frustration that Weiss didn’t miss.

“Oh, stop it! _You _don’t know where we’re going, either!”

“Well, at least I’m not pretending like I know everything.”

“What it _that _supposed to mean?!”

“It means you’re a big, stupid **jerk **and I hate you!”

Weiss sighed to herself and turned and started walking in another direction. “Just keep moving!”

“’_Oh, just keep moving! Hurry up! Waaah! Watch where you’re going_!’” she said in a fake imitation of Weiss before switching to her own voice. “Why are you so bossy?”

“I’m not bossy! Don’t say things like that!” Weiss said after she turned around.

“Stop treating me like a kid!”

“Stop acting like a kid!”

“Well, stop acting like you’re perfect!”

“I’m. Not. Perfect! Not yet, at least… but I’m still leagues better than _you_,” Weiss said as she continued to walk away, leaving Ruby to stand by herself dejectedly.

“You don’t even know me…”

* * *

Yang and Blake had been walking through the forest for some time after they’d partnered up. Eventually they stepped out into a clearing in the forest where the temple that Ozpin had mentioned was located. Inside the decrepit remains of the temple were pedestals, on top of which were several black and gold objects.

“Think this is it?” the blonde brawler asked.

Her partner simply gave her a skeptical look before walking down the hill they were on towards the temple, with Yang following a moment later.

They walked across the grass before reaching the stone floor] where they got a closer look at the pedestals—more specifically, the objects resting on some of them.

“Chess pieces?” Blake asked, looking at a black king piece in confusion.

Yang was nearby, inspecting the pedestals on the other side of the round area. “Some of them are missing. Looks like we weren’t the first ones here.”

After a moment, Blake spoke up again. “Well, I guess we should pick one.”

“Hmmmm…” Yang walked over to one of the remaining relics—a golden knight—studied it, picked it up, and showed it to Blake. “How about a cute, little pony?”

“Sure,” Blake answered with a smirk. The two girls walked to the center of the temple floor.

“That wasn’t too hard!”

“Well, it’s not like this place is very difficult to find,” Blake said as she and Yang shared a smile.

_“_ **Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh** _!!!”_

The moment was ruined when a high-pitched, very _girly _scream passed over the forest and the temple, causing Yang to turn towards the direction it came from.

“Some girl’s in trouble! Blake, did you hear that?” Yang asked before looking at her partner who was staring at something in the sky, not answering. “What should we do?”

Blake’s bow twitched—from the wind, of course—as she pointed up, motioning for Yang to look towards the air.

“Heads _uuuuuuuup_!” Ruby screamed as she fell from the sky above the yellow and black pair of students before being sent to the side by a blurring object crashing into her.

* * *

Jaune and Pyrrha stood at the entrance of a dark cave, ignoring the old drawings to the side depicting people fighting giant beasts with ancient weapons.

“Think this is it?” the blond asked his partner.

Inside, Jaune held a burning torch as he led the two of them through the cave, darkness swallowing whatever area the small light the torch gave off couldn’t reveal.

“I’m not sure this is it,” his Spartan-themed partner said, answering his question from earlier.

Jaune let out a sigh and said, “Pyrrha, I made the torch. Could you humor me for, like, _five_ more feet?”

Unfortunately, Jaune tripped over a rock neither of the two teens saw, sending the torch into a small puddle. The extinguishment of their only source of light left them shrouded in the darkness, their eyes the only things visible.

“Do you… feel that?” Pyrrha asked as Jaune stood up while grumbling.

“Soul-crushing regret?”

“No, it’s… _warm_,” she said as the two of them continued on deeper into the cave.

A few minutes of bumping into one another, stumbling over rocks, and face-planting into rocky walls later, the two partners followed a faint golden glow to its shiny point.

“That’s the relic!” Jaune said in excitement, his features illuminated as he got closer. When he reached out to grab it, however, it pulled back some. With a, “Hey! Bad… relic!”, he reached out again. It moved again. Frustrated, Jaune jumped forward and hung from the object, which raised him from the ground.

“Gotcha!”

“Um, Jaune…” Pyrrha said out of worry. Her worry was justified when Jaune’s catch lowered itself, dangling the boy in front of what owned the glowing point.

Jaune screamed when the “what” revealed itself as the glowing red lines and eyes of a Death Stalker.

Back outside, Pyrrha ran out from the cave with the scorpion Grimm bursting through the rocks narrowing the entrance mere moments later, Jaune still dangling from its golden stinger and sobbing.

“Help! Whoa-ah-ah-ah-ah! Why?! Pyrrha! Help! Pyrrha, this is not the relic! It’s _not_! Do **something**!”

Pyrrha had pulled out Miló when she first started running. “Jaune! Whatever you do, _don’t _let—” She was cut off when the scorpion reared back its tail, and watched as it launched a still-screaming Jaune across the trees. “…go.” She looked back to the Death Stalker that now focused on _her_.

She gave an embarrassed smile before turning and running after Jaune.

Speaking of the blond, Jaune sailed through the air for a minute before colliding with a falling Ruby Rose, sending them both against a tree.

* * *

“_Ruby_!_ I told you this was a bad idea_!” Weiss Schnee shouted over the loud wind, hanging on to a giant mass of black feathers for dear life.

“_We’re fine_!_ Stop worrying_!” her red-and-black-haired partner replied with the same volume while also holding on to the feathers.

“_I am **so** far beyond worrying_!”

“… _In a good way_?!”

“_In a bad way_! _In a **very **bad way_!”

“_Well, why don’t we just_ **_jump_**?!”

“_What are you?_ **_Insane_**?!”

Weiss was only answered with the roar of the rushing wind; Ruby had jumped off and was currently sailing towards the ground hundreds of feet below.

“Oh, you insufferable, little red…” Weiss growled to herself.

As Ruby headed for the ground in a panic, Jaune collided with her and sent them both into a tree near Blake and Yang. Ruby was sitting up on a branch with Chibi Beowolves and stars circling her head.

“Oohhhh… What _was_ that?” She shook her head, pulling herself from her daze and back to reality where she heard an “Eh-hem” from close by.

She looked up to see Jaune hanging upside-down from the branch above her.

“Hey, Ruby…” he said in embarrassment.

Down below, Yang and Blake both watched the scene play out.

“Did your sister just fall from the sky?” Blake asked, looking at the tree.

“I…” Yang said before she was cut off.

Before she could continue, several crashing noises from the forest were heard heading for them. An Ursa came through the trees with claws swinging around before being hit in the back with a pink blast of energy and falling forward, depositing its rider.

"**Yeeee-haaaaw**!” Nora shouted as she rolled off from the bear Grimm’s back before getting up and looking back at it with a saddened groan. “Awwww… It’s broken,” she said before dashing onto its neck and observed the carcass as Ren came up from behind her.

He leaned on the dead Grimm and panted. “Nora! Please… Don’t ever do that again.” He looked up at his partner only to see a pink dotted outline where she once stood. He frantically looked around before noticing her looking at the Temple’s chess pieces—a golden rook to be exact.

“Oooohh…” She suddenly grabbed it and the background switched to a pink one covered in stars and her hammer symbol as she started to dance and sing with the rook. “_I’m queen of the castle! I’m queen of the castle!_”

“**Nora**!” Ren called out.

“Coming, Ren!” She said after she stopped dancing, saluted, and shook the relic from her head. It landed in her left hand, and she skipped off back to Ren.

“Did she just ride in on an Ursa?” Blake asked again.

Just like before, Yang’s answer was interrupted by crashing from another part of the forest. This time, it was Pyrrha Nikos running through the foliage with the Death Stalker closing in on her. She narrowly dodged when it swiped at her with its gigantic pincers and continued running.

“Jaune!” she shouted when she saw her partner.

“Pyrrha!” he called back at her.

Ruby stood up on the branch and looked at the Grimm below. “Whoa!” she said as she ran off the branch and landed on the ground in a roll.

“_Ruby_!” Jaune whined, upset at her leaving him stuck in the tree.

“Ruby!” Yang called out to her sister as she stood up.

“Yang!” Ruby said in excitement. The two siblings ran at each other with raised arms for a hug but were knocked off-balance by Nora popping up between them and shouting “Nora!”

Blake, watching as Pyrrha continues to barely outrun the giant scorpion, spoke up for the third time. “Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?”

Yang, who’d been growing angrier and angrier as time went on, finally snapped. She growled as her hair burst into flames and her eyes flashed red. “_I can’t take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something **crazy **happens again_?!”

The tick-tock of an imaginary clock counted down the two seconds of Yang cooling off, Ren running over to a ditzy Nora, and Blake and Ruby looking up into the sky.

Ruby tugged on her older sister’s sleeve and pointed to what she saw. “Umm… Yang?”

What Ruby and a now-slumped over Yang saw was Weiss hanging from a talon the size of her entire body; a talon connected to a gigantic Nevermore.

“**How could you leave me**?!” she called down to Ruby.

“I said, ‘_Jump_'!” Ruby called back.

“She’s gonna fall,” Blake pointed out.

“She’ll be fine,” Ruby assured her.

“She’s falling,” Ren said, confirming what Blake said.

By now Jaune had managed to get unstuck from his position in the tree and was now standing on the same branch Ruby had been on only a short time ago. He looked up and grinned when he saw Weiss falling towards the ground. He ran across the branch and jumped off with his arms outstretched, catching Weiss in what seemed like a slow-motion moment.

He smiled at her. “Just… dropping in?”

Weiss remained silent but looked down. Jaune gave a small look of confusion before looking down as well… down to the ground they were still high above.

Jaune could only mutter an “Oh, God” before he and Weiss tightened their hold on one another as they continued their plummet to the ground. When they landed, Jaune faceplanted with his limbs splayed out. Weiss landed in a seated position on him.

“My hero,” she mocked as she checked her nails.

“My back…” Jaune groaned.

Behind them, the Death Stalker continued to chase Pyrrha around the clearing. It swiped at her once again, but this time she used its claw as a launch pad to launch herself to the others at the temple, landing on her side.

“Great! The gang’s all here! Now we can die together!” Yang said sarcastically.

“Not if I can help it!” Ruby let out a battle cry as she ran off into a charge at the Death Stalker.

Ignoring Yang telling her to wait, Ruby fired Crescent Rose and used the recoil to boost her speed towards the oncoming Grimm. When they met, its swipe connected with Ruby knocking her back to the ground.

She slowly got back up while assuring the others. “D-Do-Don’t worry! Totally fine!”

Ruby turned back to the scorpion and shot in in the skull with her sniper rifle. When she noticed that her bullets weren’t penetrating its thick carapace, she sheathed Crescent Rose before running away from it, the Death Stalker now giving chase.

“Ruby!” Yang called out before running to her sister. Ruby ran towards her as well, but the Nevermore cawed above them before flapping its wings and sending lines of its sharpened feathers towards both of them.

Ruby managed to outrun and dodge all except one which caught her cape, stopping her dead in her tracks. Yang continued running until the feathers locked Ruby and continued heading towards the brawler, where she did what she could to slow herself down to the point she slid on her behind and reached the feathers between her and her sister.

“Ruby, get out of there!” she said in a panic.

Ruby was struggling with her cloak, trying to get it unstuck from the Nevermore’s projectile. “I’m trying!”

Unfortunately, the Death Stalker hadn’t stopped its approach. Ruby could only look on in horror as the scorpion stood in front of her, claws clicking, as it raised its golden stinger above her.

“_Ruby_!” Yang shouted while reaching out between two of the feathers in a vain attempt to help her little sister.

Ruby could only close her eyes and cover herself with her arms in terror as the Death Stalker thrust its stinger at its target, an attack her Aura wouldn’t be able protect her from.

Her eyes opened when the scorpion started roaring in pain following a gunshot. The Death Stalker was attempting to claw at its face in pain, one of its eyes shot through with smoke exiting the sizzling bullet hole. Interestingly, the smoke was gray, not black like Grimm usually leave when wounded or dead.

Weiss, who’d ran past Yang when she’d reached through the feathers, was preparing to freeze the stinger of the scorpion just moments before it’d been shot in an attempt to save her partner. She kept up with the freeing until the Death Stalker’s singer (and some of its tail) were encased in ice. It was in too much pain at the moment, however, to make any purposeful attempts to break out of its icy prison other than pull its tail during its thrashing.

“Weiss…?” she asked softly.

“You are **so **childish! _And_ dim-witted, _and_ hyperactive, and don’t even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose I can be a bit… _difficult_… but if we’re going to do this, we’re going to have to do this _together_. So if _you _quit trying to show off, I’ll be… _nicer_,” Weiss said as she walked over to Ruby and helped her get her cape unstuck.

“I’m not trying to show off; I want you to know I can do this,” Ruby argued.

“You’re fine,” Weiss said before walking away.

Ruby let out a sigh of relief before closing her eyes and clasping her hands. “Normal knees…” she whispered before standing up and letting out a “Whoa!” when she saw the Death Stalker. Its bullet wound was still smoking somewhat, but it must’ve got over the pain enough that it was now trying to break out of the ice keeping it from making another attempt on its prey’s life.

She was so focused on her near-death experience she didn’t notice Yang rushing up to her until she pulled her into a tight hug.

“So happy you’re okay!” Yang said, ignoring her sister’s attempts to escape her strong grip. The moment was ruined, however, when Jaune spoke up.

“Wait, who shot it? Don’t think it was any of us, was it?”

Everybody confirmed that none of them had been the one that shot the Death Stalker, much less in the eye. More so, none of them had ammo that would cause the damage that occurred to it.

Their questioning was interrupted by a scuffle on the nearby hill. Everybody who looked saw some sort of armored figure fighting with a Beowolf. It lasted only a few seconds before the Beowolf was punched one last time in the face, breaking its mask and killing it. The figure turned and faced the students before waving to them. One look to the side and they noticed they were waving to Ruby. They all turned back and noticed a second Beowolf charging at the figure from behind. Before they could warn them, however, the figure surprised them.

In what felt like slow motion, they turned around clockwise, reaching out with their left hand while simultaneously drawing a handgun from their hip with their right. Spinning 180 degrees, they seized the Beowolf by its throat and continued spinning, using its momentum to launch both of them from the hill to the same level as the students. It landed on top of the Beowolf in a roll (smacking it in the face with its armored mask/helmet combo, dazing it) and continued until it was off the Grimm with its back pressed onto the grass.

Rolling to the side and onto its stomach, the figure quickly brought up their pistol and shot the Grimm one, two times in the head, the bullet holes releasing the same gray smoke as the Death Stalker. Standing up with its gun in both hands and trained on the Beowolf, it waited a moment to see if the Grimm would get back up. When nothing happened the figure holstered its handgun before pulling what everyone presumed was its primary weapon—a bullpup assault rifle—and reloading it before holding it in a resting position. Finally, they walked over to the rest of the students.

“Sorry about my late entry; had to deal with a couple of Beowolves or else I would’ve helped with your cloak,” they said. Their voice had a mechanical tone, like they were speaking through a radio. Likely a result of their mask.

“That was that _you_ that shot it?” Ruby asked.

The person nodded. “Yup, it was me. We can go through proper introductions when we get back to Beacon where it’s safe; until then, call me Simon.”

“Guys?” Jaune got everyone’s attention. “I hate to interrupt, but that thing’s circling back! What are we gonna do?”

“Look there’s no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us,” Weiss stated matter-of-factly. Everyone looked at the relics.

“She’s right,” Ruby agreed. “Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the Cliffs. There’s no point in fighting these things.”

“Run and live—_that’s _an idea I can get behind!” Jaune said in agreement.

“Well, whatever we’re doing, let’s do it _fast_. Scorponok over there’s starting to break out of that icy anchor of his, and I’m not liking the look he’s giving me with his good eyes _at all_.” Simon said, pointing to the Grimm still struggling on the ground.

Sure enough, crack were starting to form on the surface of Weiss’s ice formation, and it was starting to wiggle its stinger that was shaking itself loose from the inside.

Ruby and Jaune both ran into the temple to grab their relics. Ruby grabbed a golden knight identical to Blake and Yang’s while Jaune grabbed a golden rook identical to Ren and Nora’s. They smiled at each other as they compared which ones they grabbed.

“Time we left!” Ren called to them.

“Right.” Ruby said as she and Jaune left the temple and she waved to the others. “Let’s go!”

“Wait, Simon, what about your relic?” Yang asked, turning to the armored and masked student. She noticed his mask's eyes glowing red.

“Long story that'll be explained later,” he answered before moving up with everyone else to leave the area.

* * *

All nine students headed out of the forest and into another series of abandoned structures with the Nevermore still continuing its chase in the air. All of them scattered when it passed over them, taking cover behind some of the stone blocks around the path they were going, as the Grimm of the sky perched on a high column and let out a loud caw.

“Well, _that’s _great!” Yang said in annoyance. She felt a tap on her shoulder and looked to see Simon looking back the way they came.

“It’s about to jump to ‘excellent’, look,” he said, pointing to the forest, where the now-freed Death Stalker burst through the trees with a roar.

“Ah, crap, _run_!” Jaune shouted.

Everyone came out from their hiding spots to get away from the scorpion, but this caught the attention of the perched Nevermore, which rose back into the air to resume its chase.

Nora ran out from behind her block when Ren called for her to distract it and jumped through the feather projectiles that it launched. She then pulled out her grenade launcher from behind her back and launched several grenades shells topped with hearts at it. The Nevermore must not have liked the pink electricity the grenades released when they hit their target because it flew off out of range after a few explosions.

She was so focused on shooting the Nevermore that she didn’t realize that the Death Stalker had caught up to them and was currently rushing up behind her. Fortunately, Ren and Blake used their blades and performed a cross-slash against the beast’s shell. Weiss landed next to the hammer-wielding girl in order to create a jumping platform beneath the two of them. They leaped to safety as the scorpion turned its sights to its attackers and gave chase.

The others had continued running towards a stone bridge connecting the ground to another part of the stone structure. Pyrrha stopped running beside Jaune and pulled out Miló in its rifle form and started shooting the scorpion alongside Ren and Simon for a second before it closed in and swiped at them, fortunately missing and causing them to turn and run back to the others. They caught up quickly and continued to run across the ancient stone bridge.

Everyone was so focused on escaping the scorpion that none of them noticed the giant Nevermore heading straight for them. Simon noticed it out of the corner of his eye and shouted a warning to everyone else. They all moved out of the way just in time to avoid getting hit by the bird’s giant wings as it crashed through the stone structure with ease. Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora, Jaune, and Simon were forced closer to the collection of ancient stone columns the two groups were heading towards originally, and Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha were left on the other side with the Death Stalker.

Ruby started taking potshots at the Nevermore as Blake was beaten back by the scorpion.

Jaune ran over to the destroyed edge of the bridge and looked over to the three being attacked. “Man, we gotta get over there! They need help!”

Nora ran up beside him in excitement. “Let’s do this!”

Jaune looked down over the edge into the misty abyss. “Yeah, but, uh… I can’t make that jump,” he said in fear.

“I got ya!”

Jaune’s asking of “Wha—?” switched to a scream when Simon grabbed the plate of armor covering his back while running and dragged him to the edge of the bridge. At the end, Simon leaped over the impressive gap with Jaune in one hand, his bullpup shooting at the scorpion to distract it in the other.

Nora turned her grenade launcher into its full-length two-handed hammer form and jumped to the edge of the bridge herself. She planted one foot on the hammer’s head and fired it, launching her off the bridge to slam the heavy blunt weapon right into the center of the Death Stalker’s face. She fired it again when the creature sent its stinger to get her and once more to avoid its reach.

Unfortunately, Nora’s grenade blasts caused her to accidentally knock Blake off the edge. The ninja-themed student launched her whip and sent her gun’s blade into the edge of the bridge. She used it to circle around and leap onto the back of the Nevermore which had been flying above her.

Blake dashed across the aerial Grimm’s back, slashing the entire time, and jumped off. She landed on the ruined platform at the top of the columns next to Ruby, and then ran over to Yang and Weiss.

“It’s tougher than it looks!” she warned the others.

Yang readied her Ember Celica. “Then let’s hit it with everything we got!”

The four of them let loose a barrage of gunfire at the Nevermore, but it simply dodged the shots or took them without any signs of injury until it crashed through the platforms and columns. The four girls leaped from one section of falling stone to another until they reached the higher bridge on top, just below the cliffs.

“None of this is working!” Weiss yelled.

Ruby watched as Blake whipped over to another section of the area while Yang fired round after flaming round at the Grimm. “I have a plan! Cover me!” she yelled and blasted away as Weiss raised her rapier and headed into the fray.

Below the four girls, Jaune, Ren, Nora, Pyrrha, and Simon were still battling the Death Stalker.

“We gotta move!” Jaune yelled. Everyone rushed towards it.

Pyrrha deflected a claw attack with Akoúo, her shield, and followed up with a slash of her blade. The scorpion recoiled back and attempted another swipe, this time with its other claw, but it was deflected by Jaune. Pyrrha, taking advantage of the Grimm being knocked back, leaped over and begin repeatedly attacking the creature’s face. Ren ran up firing and jumped onto the stinger when the scorpion tried to hit him. He started shooting at the stinger’s base connecting it to the tail while his partner fired more grenades at the creature’s claws, assisted by Simon’s bursts of his rifle.

At one point, Pyrrha hurled her javelin straight into one of the monster’s remaining eyes, causing it to throw Ren away to the side in pain. Ren hit the side of a stone block hard and fell to the ground without getting back up.

“Ren!” Nora shouted in worry.

Jaune stood up and instantly noticed the scorpion’s stinger was now hanging limply from the tail. “Pyrrha!” he called out.

“Done!” she called back. Pyrrha raised her shield and hurled it like a disc towards the Grimm, slicing off the stinger and sending falling into the Death Stalker’s head, dazing it. Pyrrha retrieved her rebounding shield.

“Hammergirl, do your thing!” Simon called to Nora.

“Heads up!” she jumped onto Akoúo and Pyrrha leaped as high as she could while Nora aimed her blast down to maximize her lift. Smiling all the way up, she twirled down and brought her hammer down onto the scorpion’s stinger, slamming it deeper into the monster’s head and crushing the bridge underneath it.

Jaune and Pyrrha bound over the monster to the land behind it, and Nora fired up and away behind them as Simon used the Grimm as a launch pad as he jumped over its tail and to the ground. The Death Stalker fell down the chasm, killing it for sure. Jaune hit the ground on his back, Nora landed on her bottom, and Pyrrha managed to land in a three-point crouch. Ren simply walked over to them, panting and groaning, and collapsed while Simon did a badass combat roll before stopping in a crouch and standing up.

“I. Hate. Scorpions,” he simply said before looking over his shoulder at where the scorpion once fell.

His attention, along with that of the three still standing next to him, was moved to the still-flying Nevermore; where a certain blonde brawler was busy holding the bird’s beak open.

“I! HOPE! YOU’RE! HUNG—GRY!” she shouted and emphasized each syllable with a shotgun shell down the Nevermore’s gaping throat. She looked behind herself and jumped from the creature’s mouth and onto a ruin, sending the bird to crash into the cliffs.

Sadly, Yang’s barrage had little effect on the avian Grimm, and it recovered pretty quickly. Yang smiled when she spotted Ruby and Blake on the broken columns with Weiss rushing to the Nevermore. Yang passed Weiss as the Nevermore started to take to the skies once again, but it was stopped by Weiss who hopped over to the ruin it was lifting off of and froze the feathery tip of its tail to the ground, keeping it grounded. She backflipped onto one of her glyphs, jumped, and landed on the other side running back to the group.

Blake fired the pistol portion of her Gambol Shroud over to Yang who stuck the blade into the column she was hanging onto. The two of them tightened the whip between their columns, allowing Ruby to jump on the center and pull it back into one of Weiss’s black sigils, the caster right next to it.

“Of course _you _would come up with this idea,” Weiss said.

“Think you can make the shot?” Ruby asked, her eyes focused on the Nevermore trying to free itself.

“Hmm! Can I!”

“…Can’t?” Ruby spared a questioning glance to her partner.

“Of course I can!”

With that, Ruby looked forwards to her target and cocked Crescent Rose just as Weiss turned the sigil from black to red. Ruby was released so fast that the ground behind her cracked, and she was followed by a trail of her signature rose petals. She began to fire her sniper rifle, the recoil boosting her even further towards the trapped bird until her scythe’s blade caught the creature’s neck and made them both fall to the cliff’s wall.

Weiss raised her rapier and created a series of white glyphs leading up the cliff wall for her partner to use, who did so with more shots of Crescent Rose.

Yang, Blake, and a now-exhausted Weiss watched as Ruby climbed the cliff with the bird in the grasp of her weapon. Both of them crying out, the Huntress-in-training and the Nevermore reached the top of the cliff where Ruby circled up, fired one last shot, and cleanly decapitated the giant bird in a shower of rose petals.

She landed next to the severed head as the giant body of the Nevermore fell to the ruins and crevice below. The girls, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, and Simon—especially—watched in amazement.

“Wow…” was all Jaune could say.

“Man… never saw shit like this back in the ‘Guard,” Simon said next to him.

“The what?” Jaune asked as he turned to him.

Ruby looked down at her friends, her cape flowing in the wind, as they peered up at her.

“Well… _That _was a thing!” Yang said with a grin.

* * *

The auditorium was filled with the sounds of clapping as Ozpin stood on stage with four boys lined up. Their profiles were projected on a screen above.

“Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by… Cardin Winchester!” Ozpin spoke.

The audience gave one more wave of ovation as the newly-formed team walked off the stage and four more took their place, their own profiles filling the screen.

“Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR.”

The audience clapped as Nora laughed and tightly hugged Ren.

“Led by… Jaune Arc!”

“Huh? L-Led by…?” the blond student mumbled in confusion and surprise.

“Congratulations, young man,” the headmaster said with a tint of amusement.

A grinning Pyrrha gave Jaune a friendly shoulder bump but switched to a look of surprise when he was knocked onto his butt in full view of the laughing audience. Ozpin continued speaking as the final group walked up into position.

“And finally: Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao-Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY! Led by… Ruby Rose!”

Weiss looked to her right in surprise, where a shocked Ruby was being hugged by her sister.

“I’m so proud of you!” Yang said, oblivious to Ruby trying to escape her sister’s grip.

“Now then, we do have one more: Mr. Rossi, if you will,” Ozpin said as he turned to face the student in question.

Everyone watched as a now-helmetless Simon walked up onto the stage with his bullpup on his back. He walked up to Ozpin as the girls joined the new Team JNPR off to the side and stood at attention with his arms folded behind his back.

“Simon Rossi. We were unable to have a special relic ready for you, and the unfortunate loss of participants led to an odd number of students, you included. Normally, this would result in having to wait until the next school year to try again, but your skills in combat are exceptional.”

At that moment, the blank screen changed to that of one that was watching the students during their initiation. This one showed a path through the calm forest lined with bushes. It took a few moments before a fully-armored Simon landed on the ground from the sky. He had his gun drawn and quickly turned and aimed around the immediate area. When he was certain the area was clear, he removed the hand that was holding the underside of his rifle and looked at something on his wrist for a moment before turning and heading into the direction of the temple.

The video skipped ahead to Simon walking down the trail before stopping and lowering his weapon a bit. His left hand went from his gun to his chest where it unsheathed a combat knife. He twirled the blade, so he was holding it in a reverse grip, before quickly spinning and slamming the weapon into the neck of a small Beowolf that was attempting a sneak attack from behind him. He pushed it to the ground with the knife and shot a few more Beowolves that were following the first one before finishing it off with a headshot.

Teams RWBY and JNPR quickly noticed the gray smoke emerging from the bullet holes, just like the Death Stalker did.

The rest of the video showed Simon on his way to the temple like everyone else, only pausing briefly to deal with the occasional Grimm, sometimes in packs. The most notable one was where Simon’s bullpup ran out of ammo when a few packs of Beowolves and three Ursai ganged up on him. He was forced to drop his rifle and switch to a combination of his pistol and knife to clear them out.

It was in the midst of killing the last Ursa when Simon looked up to see Jaune flying through the air screaming. He started running in the direction Jaune was—grabbing his rifle without stopping along the way—and stopped when he came across the eight students outside the temple, Ruby charging at the giant scorpion. When her cape got caught, he motioned to head in to help when something caught his attention behind him.

Turning around, he found two Beowolves that had followed him. Approaching him quickly, Simon turned and fired at the Death Stalker, nailing it in the eye before engaging the lesser Grimm.

From there, the screen showed Simon’s brief scuffle with the Beowolves and the fight between the students and two larger beasts. It ended after the Nevermore’s head removal, and the auditorium cheered at seeing its death.

After everyone calmed down, Ozpin continued. “Because of these amazing displays, you will be the fifth member of a team of your choice as long as they agree to work with you.”

“We’ll work with him!”

"**Ruby**!"

Simon and Ozpin turned to see Ruby with her hand raised being told off by Weiss. The two noticed they were being watched and turned their attention to their viewers.

“Er, I mean… if the others agree, then we’d like to have him on our team…” Ruby said sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head.

Simon looked to Ozpin and then back to RWBY. “Alright. Ruby seems for it, and Weiss is against it. What about you two?” he asked Blake and Yang.

They both agreed with Ruby (Blake more neutral, but still willing), and Ozpin announced Team RWBYS as this year’s five-person first-year team. As the audience began to leave the auditorium, Ozpin pulled RWBYS aside and told them to meet him in his office as soon as possible for details regarding their new setup.

They agreed, and after talking a bit with JNPR they followed the directions Ozpin gave to reach the elevator to his office.

* * *

That night, Roman Torchwick—self-proclaimed "criminal mastermind"—was hovering over a desk, dealing with a call on his scroll in an abandoned warehouse. After their conversation ended, he slammed the device onto the desk and sighed. Pulling out a cigar, he held it to his mouth and lit it with his symbolized lighter. The squeaking wheels of a trolley made him look to his side when he was finished.

A man in a gray mask and black hood approached with the trolley in question and stopped it next to Roman, who pulled out a stack of Lien cards and set them on the desk for the man to take.

"Open it," Roman said after the man took the money.

The man open up the top box on the trolley, revealing the large amount of Dust crystals of various colors within. Roman picked up a blue gem and looked over it.

"We're gonna need more men…" he said to himself before looking over at a map above the desk.

The map was of Vale and its districts and areas with crossed-out locations, all of which lead to one place specially-marked with a circle:

Beacon Academy.


	4. Volume 1, Chapter 3: The Badge and the Burden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day after initiation, Team RWBYS attends their first class together. Unfortunately, Weiss isn't being a team player.

The morning after initiation, Weiss Schnee was sleeping peacefully. The previous day's events—including the initiation itself, the time in Ozpin's office, and the after-party where her dolt of a leader accidentally spilled her red fruit punch on her clean white dress—left everyone in need of sleep. The girls took the four beds when Simon volunteered take the floor until a fifth bed arrived (turning down Yang's offer to share), since his gear included a temporary sleeping bag.

Eventually, Weiss's eyes fluttered open and she stretched her arms above her head with a yawn. She wasn't paying attention to Ruby, who was dressed in Beacon's uniform, sneaking up beside her until—

FWEEEEEEEEEET!

—Ruby blew the whistle she had causing Weiss to fall to the floor.

"Good morning, team RWBYS!" Ruby announced.

"What in the world is wrong with you?" Weiss asked from the floor.

Ignoring her, Ruby continued. "Now that you're awake, we can officially begin our first order of business."

"Excuse me?" Weiss said as she got up and brushed herself off.

Yang, who also dressed alongside Blake and Ruby, was holding a collection of various objects in her arms. "Decorating!

"What?!"

Blake lifted her suitcase in the air. "We still have to unpack." The suitcase opened and dumped its contents onto the floor. "Aaaand clean."

"It'd be best to get it done now than to wait until later where it might be forgotten," Simon said. He must've just entered the room since Weiss hadn't seen him when she first looked up.

He too was dressed in the Beacon uniform, but he had his own small additions to it. Ruby wore her cape while Simon had four pins, one on either side of his dress shirt collar and one on the ends of each jacket epaulet.

Seeing him appear made Weiss instantly recall the discussion the team had with Ozpin.

* * *

_(Yesterday, Ozpin's office)_

_"So let me get this straight: Simon is a being from another world or something—who you allowed to attend in order to adjust to this world after you met him about five days ago—and you wanted to know if we still want him on our team?" Yang asked in disbelief._

_"Yes," Ozpin said simply._

_Simon nodded, still standing next to Ozpin's desk._

_The four girls looked between one another, Ozpin, and Simon before they all had their own reaction: Weiss facepalmed, Blake kept a mostly-neutral expression, and Ruby and Yang both laughed like mad._

_Ozpin and Simon shared a look before returning the attention to the girls._

_It took a few moments for Yang and Ruby to calm down before Yang spoke up again. "Okay… that was a good one; now, really, what did you want to talk about?"_

_"That's what we wanted to tell the four of you. I'm not from Remnant; I'm from another world called Earth," Simon answered._

_"Alright, then tell us about this 'Earth' if you're really from it. What was it?" Weiss asked with a scoff._

_Simon took a breath, thought for a moment, and spoke._

_"Earth is a planet that is similar to Remnant, but very different at the same time. We don't have Dust, but we do have fuels that run things on our world such as oil, coal, and geothermal energy. Nobody has Aura or Semblances, but don't have the Grimm to deal with either; we have what I would is much worse, and it's currently, but slowly, killing us."_

_The four-person audience looked on in shock. No Grimm, Dust, Aura, or Semblances? On top of that, what could be worse than the Grimm? They'd been slaughtering people on Remnant ever since Humanity's creation!_

_Weiss told Simon this herself, and he looked to Ozpin, who nodded. Simon looked back to the girls and continued. "The year on my world is 2097. For 35 years we've been at war with hostile radicals affected by Homo Nosferatu Vampiris." He saw the looks of confusion on their faces, so he simplified it._

_"Vampires."_

_"Vampires? As in the creatures with fangs that feed on blood and sleep in coffins, like in the books?" Blake asked_

_"The fangs and blood are correct—albeit with some minor details—but they don't actually sleep in coffins, or at least not all the time."_

_"And you were fighting these 'vampires' before you ended up here?" Ruby asked._

_"Yes," Simon said before standing at attention. "Captain Simon Rossi, 163rd Reaper Platoon, Alpha Squad, 2nd Special Operations Division, United States Dayguard Forces. The Dayguard was created in 2079 when the Bat-Blooded People's Armed Forces started to overwhelm the world's military forces. Each country has the Dayguard as a branch in the event of a major vampire assault. Dayguard troops are specifically trained and equipped to fight vampires and survive against them more easily than other soldiers. If needed, think of them as our version of Huntsmen."_

_From then, the girls took in everything Simon told them. More about Earth, the counties they had instead of kingdoms with the exception of Great Britain. Ruby lit up when Simon mentioned the weapons they used, and he promised her that he'd show the ones he had when they had more time._

_At the end, Ozpin stood up and once again asked if they were sure they wanted to keep Simon on their team. They all wanted him to stay, so Simon agreed to do so. Ozpin them gave them some extra details about being a five-member team, their room information, and that a fifth bed would be supplied to them shortly._

_Afterwards, they left to go to the after-party with all the other new students._

* * *

Weiss was knocked back into reality when Ruby blew her whistle a second time.

"Aaaalright! Simon, Weiss, Blake, Yang, and their fearless leader Ruby have begun their first mission!" She raised her fist into the air. "Banzai!"

Simon, Yang, and Blake did the same at her sides. "Banzai!"

* * *

Yang placed a poster of six guys in various poses in a band named "THE ACHIEVE MEN" on her part of the room.

Weiss hung a painting of the Forever Fall and positioned it perfectly before walking away.

Blake was putting away books on the shelves when she picked up a copy of Ninjas of Love, one of her… **private** books. She looked around warily before putting it back before someone saw it.

Simon was holding a crate of his stuff open, looking between it and a projection on a data pad. After looking and making sure everything was in order, he nodded before turning it off and putting it away, closing the crate's lid in the process. He then looked over to see Ruby using Crescent Rose to hang some curtains over the window. He rushed over and prevented her from slashing them when she was finished and didn't see the blade heading towards the fabric.

Stepping back, they all admired their handiwork and noticed one problem: the beds cramped together in a heap in the center of the room.

"This isn't going to work," Weiss said.

"It is a bit cramped," Blake added.

"Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff…" Yang said but sounded unsure.

"The beds are the problem. Any way to shrink them down or position them?" Simon suggested.

"Or we could ditch them… and replace them with **bunk beds**!" Ruby said in excitement.

"Umm, that sounds incredibly dangerous," Weiss pointed out.

"And super-_awesome_!" Yang said, clearly in agreement with Ruby.

"It does seem efficient," Blake said.

"Well, I think we should put it to a vote," Weiss said, seemingly unaware that she was out-voted.

"I think we just did," Ruby said.

In confirmation, and to the sound of three dings and one buzz, Blake gave a thumbs up, Yang made a double-rocker gesture, Simon nodded, and Weiss angrily curled her fists at her sides.

Simon was about to say something when he was stopped by the girls rushing to the beds and a cloud of dust forming. The sounds of jackhammering and sawing came from them until they gathered back to their original spots.

Weiss's bed was on the ground next to her art and luggage while Blake's bed was next to her books, some of which were placed on the posts to support and raise Yang's bed over it. Ruby's bed hung over Weiss's, suspended from the ceiling by ropes with a blanket over it like a tent.

"Allllright! Our second order of business iiiiiiiis…!" Ruby said as she spun around before landing on her bed with a book in her lap. "Classes…" She pulled out a pencil. "Now, we have a few classes together today. At 9, we've got to be—"

"What?! Did you say 9 o'clock?" Weiss yelled, cutting Ruby off.

"Uuuum…

"It's 8:55, you dunce!"

Weiss booked it out of the room and down the hall. The rest of team RWBYS and team JNPR peeked out from their respective doorways to watch her run.

Ruby was flabbergasted and was about to speak when Simon leapt into the hall and said, "We need to go to Port's class! Follow me!" before running after Weiss. Ruby, Yang, and Blake followed him in that order.

"Class…?" was all Jaune could say before losing his balance and toppling Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren onto him. He managed to wiggle his way out from under them and dashed down the hall after the others. "We're gonna be late!" he shouted.

Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch stood in the courtyard as they watched the two teams dash through the school with Simon in the lead. Glynda looked down at her watch as Ozpin sipped his coffee.

* * *

"Monsters! Deeeemons… Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey! Ha-ha!" Professor Peter Port spoke, boards displaying various species of Grimm behind him.

Team RWBYS sat in the front row, each member in varying stages of interests; Blake, Yang, and Simon sat up and paid attention, Weiss took notes, and Ruby had fallen asleep, head propped in her hand, but was woken up by Port's bad joke.

Receiving only cricket chirps as an answer, Port continued. "Uhhhh… And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses…" Port paused to wink at Yang, who gave an uncomfortable groan in response, and continued, "Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! 'From what?', you ask? Why, the very world!"

A student stood and raised his fist, shouting, "Ayyy-yep!" He stood for a moment and looked at everyone in the room but sat down in embarrassment when he saw that everyone was giving him strange looks.

"That is what you are training to become," Port said. "But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome, man… Me! When I was a boy…"

Ports words faded into the background and "blah"s as Weiss noticed that Ruby was very focused on penciling something on the paper in front of her.

"…Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. 'Peter', he told me…"

His speech once again faded into "blah"s as Ruby chuckled and held up her creation to her teammates: a poorly-drawn rendition of Professor Port with stink lines above him and "Professor Poop" written underneath. Blake and Yang laughed while Simon chuckled, but Weiss looked on annoyed.

Port cleared his throat and waited until he had their attention again before finishing his tale. "In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!"

Port took a bow as Weiss got more visibly frustrated at Ruby's antics and lack of attention.

"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable!"

Ruby made a silly face as she used her pencil to balance one of her books with an apple on top of it.

"A true Huntsman must be dependable!"

Ruby, for the second time, had fallen asleep in her first class of the year.

"A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!

The final straw for Weiss was Ruby picking her nose, not even being subtle about it.

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Weiss and Simon raised their hands at the same time, with her angrily saying, "I do, sir!"

Port looked at the two students. "Well, then, let's find out, you two! Get your gear ready to face your opponents!"

* * *

Standing in front of the class and staring down a cage with something inside was Simon in his armor sans helmet and guns. Red and black plating with pouches covered his torso and limbs. His left arm featured a plate with the logo of the 163rd Reaper Platoon, a dark grey upper vampire skull with red pupils in empty sockets glaring with an angled scythe on either side and "163rd" on the skull's forehead, stamped onto it. Strangely, he also had an armband made of black fabric below it that didn't look like part of his uniform. His right arm featured a stamp of a flag of red and white horizontal bars with a blue square filled with white stars on the upper-right corner. Beneath that was another patch, this one in the shape of a shield with a dagger cut in half by a lightning bolt, "Spec Ops" was written as one word on either side of the blade; "Spec" on the left and "Ops" on the right.

Back to the audience, the rest of the team was cheering him on.

"Gooo, Simy!" Yang said with a raised fist.

"Fight well!" Blake said as, oddly, she waved a small red flag with "RWBYS" on it in white letters.

"Yeah, represent Teeeeam RWBYS!" Ruby cheered.

"Ruby! He's trying to focus; stop distracting him!" Weiss said. She was wearing her normal clothes and had Myrtenaster at her side.

Simon switched his attention from the cage to her. "Weiss, if I can be surrounded by gunfire, explosions, and all-around chaos in the battlefield and maintain my focus on several hostile targets, I can do the same with only one target and some cheering. Besides, Ruby isn't the only one." He glanced over to Blake and Yang, who had quieted down after Weiss told off Ruby, before looking back to Port and the cage.

"Whenever you're ready, Mr. Rosie," the elderly teacher said.

"It's 'Rossi', not 'Rosie'. And I'm ready," Simon corrected before drawing his knife from its sheath and held it in his left hand in a reverse-grip combat pose.

"Allllright!" Port stepped next to the cage and pulled out Blowhard, his blunderbuss with ax blades on the stock. "Let the match… begin!"

He swung down and broke the lock on the cage, dropping the door and releasing the beast within. Out stepped a Beowolf, but not like the ones they'd seen in the forest. This one seemed to be between the Betas they usually found, and the Alphas. Less of a threat than older, larger Grimm but still dangerous to inexperienced Hunters or students.

Ruby and the others worried a bit for Simon. He may have been special forces, but he himself mentioned his obvious lack of experience or knowledge with fighting Grimm—hell, the fighting in the forest was mostly brute force he'd used back on Earth.

Their worries weren't helped when Simon relaxed his pose and put his knife away. He simply stood there and waited.

Waited for the Beowolf… that wasn't attacking yet, for some reason.

It just stood there and looked at him in what seemed like curiosity. It even seemed to sniff in his direction in confusion. Something about Simon wasn't right, and this Beowolf, who never not chase down prey, was trying to figure him out.

Simon either didn't notice or didn't care because he spread his arms to the side and said, "Look, buddy, I know I'm new to you—I'm new to everything here—, but my teammate needs to go after me, so are you going to come here, or do I need to go over there?" He finished with a step towards the Beowolf

His movement seemed to snap the Beowolf back to reality as it roared and charged as fast as it could from stillness towards Simon, who simply stood in place unflinching. When the Beowolf was about to tackle him, he simply stepped to the side and stuck out his foot, tripping it and sending it face-first into the floor and then the wall. He then started walking to the Grimm as it began to get back up.

Simon reached it just as the Beowolf got up and turned around. It lunged at him again, but it was stopped when Simon grabbed it by its neck with his right hand, his left quickly reaching up to grab the Grimm's right arm that was rearing back to swipe at him. They stayed like this for a few moments with the Beowolf making several attempts to bite Simon's face, but he simply held it back with one arm.

A brief tense of his left arm later, a CRUNCH was heard as Simon crushed the Grimm's neck, killing it instantly. He threw the limp body to the side where it began to dissipate into smoke.

Ignoring the looks and mumbling of the other students, he dusted his hands off. "Must not have liked the armor... Alright, Weiss, you're up," he said as he walked back to his seat.

* * *

"Bravo! Bra-vo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of true Huntsmen-in-training!" Port announced as Weiss gasped in relief.

When it was her turn, Port released a Boarbatusk for her to fight. A few minutes of being disarmed, dodging charges of the spike-covered Grimm, and yelling at Ruby—who'd been trying to help Weiss and cheer her on—later, she managed to get it on its back and used a glyph to drive Myrtenaster's blade through the creature's un-armored stomach, killing it.

Back to the present, Port continued, "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and… stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"

Weiss glared and quickly walked to the exit, passing her teammates.

"Sheesh, what's with her?" Jaune asked no one in particular as he watched her leave.

Neither Simon nor the other three members of Weiss's team had a clue and looked at each other with the same question.

* * *

Weiss stormed off but was stopped when Ruby rounded a corner and caught up with her, calling her name.

"Weiss!"

Weiss stopped and turned around. "What?"

"What's wrong with you? Why are you being—?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You're supposed to be a leader, and all you've been so far is a nuisance!"

"What did I do?" Ruby asked with a scoff.

"That's just it," Weiss pointed out, "you've done nothing to earn your position! Back in the forest, you acted like a child, and you've only continued to do so!"

"Weiss, where is this coming from? What happened to all the talk about 'working together'? I thought you believed in acting as a team."

"Not a team led by you. I've studied, trained, and, quite frankly, I deserve better." Weiss turned around just as Ruby started reaching a hand out towards her. "Ozpin made a mistake." With that, Weiss walked away as Ruby dropped her hand in dejection.

"What she deserves is a serious change in attitude," a voice behind Ruby said.

She turned around to see Simon standing there, watching Weiss walk down the hall until he turned to face Ruby. She looked to be on the verge of tears.

"Is she right? Did Ozpin make a mistake making me leader?"

Simon took a deep breath before speaking. "Honestly, Ruby? I'm not sure."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that there hasn't been enough time or opportunities for you to show your leadership capabilities. It takes more than a day to see if someone is leader material."

"If that's the case, why did Ozpin choose me?"

"Well, let's start from the beginning: Initiation was all Ozpin had to go on for choosing who'd lead the teams. That didn't give him much information to use. Between you, Weiss, Yang, Blake, and I guess I'll throw myself in there as well, you seemed to be the best choice."

"How?" Ruby asked, though she was a lot less doubtful than when they'd first started talking.

"Here's what I think he saw with each of his five options: First, Yang is good fighter, outgoing, and not afraid to speak her mind. Unfortunately, I've seen and heard that she has a temper and lost her cool in the forest; a leader has to be able to stay calm and focused, especially under pressure, or they risk their anger leading the group into trouble.

"Blake is level-headed but doesn't communicate much with the rest of us. No offense to her, but she doesn't inspire much—if any— leadership to me. She connects the least with the rest of us which isn't good; a leader needs to connect with those that follow them so that they can more easily solve situations inside and outside the group.

"Weiss… Weiss is a good fighter and is making her dislikes known, but the problem with her is her entitlement. She hates it when things don't go her way and is putting you down simply because you were chosen instead of her. Leaders expect that things don't go their way, if ever, and don't take their frustrations out on everyone else when that happens," Simon finished.

"W-Well what about you? You have actual experience leading, and you said your rank is captain. I don't see how I'm better than you," Ruby said.

"You are correct, Ruby. I have experience, but it isn't the right experience. You're native to Remnant while I've been here little less than a week; you know more of how this world and what it holds works than I do. Furthermore, my experience is with the military during wartime with vampires. The vampires we fought are far more different than Grimm, and possibly even more dangerous.

"My training before and with the Reapers has helped me survive over six years and did help when I first arrived here, but for the most part isn't what I would need for long-term combat. You, on the other hand, have the training and experience with the Grimm that a leader would need to lead a team of Huntress and Hunter trainees." He paused to put a hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"And, between you, me, and Ozpin hiding around the corner, I prefer following you more than I would Weiss."

As if on cue, Headmaster Ozpin came out from around the corner with a cup of coffee in one hand and his cane in the other. "Mr. Rossi is right, Ruby. I do not consider choosing you a mistake. Being a team leader isn't just a title you carry into battle, but a badge you wear constantly. You've been burdened with a daunting responsibility. I advise you take some time to think about how you will uphold it."

"Also," Simon added, "give Weiss some time. I'm sure she'll come around eventually.

Ruby looked at the two of them with consideration before smiling and turning and walking away.

* * *

The full moon shone over Beacon's green lights. Weiss's shadow spread over Team RWBYS' room against the hall's light. Blake slept under her covers, Yang was spread out on her bead while snoring, and Simon slept on his sleeping bag (somehow he was able to use his equipment backpack as a makeshift pillow and still sleep just fine).

Weiss walked over to Ruby's bed and lifted the curtain to see her resting her head on her notes, with open books all around and a pencil in her hand. Amazed at her partner's determination, Weiss cleared her throat and gently shook her awake.

Ruby took a second to regain consciousness and started flailing in surprise. "Weiss! I-I was studying, and then I fell asleep! I'm sorry…"

Whatever else she was going to say was stopped when Weiss placed a hand over Ruby's mouth and put a finger to her own, signaling her to be quiet. Weiss looked over to Ruby's pillow and noticed her empty Beacon coffee mug.

"How do you take your coffee?" Weiss asked as she removed her hand.

"I… I don't…" Ruby said.

"Answer the question!" Weiss said with some force.

"Uhh, cream and five sugars!" Ruby answered.

"Don't move," Weiss said with a sigh. She ducked under to her own bed before coming back up. "Here," she said, offering Ruby a fresh cup which she took.

"Um… Thanks, Weiss."

Weiss smiled before giving Ruby an apologetic look. "Ruby, I think you have what it takes to be a good leader. Just know that I am going to be the best teammate you'll ever have!" The two shared a smile. "Good luck studying!" Weiss said before she ducked under but came back and pointed to one of Ruby's papers. "That's wrong, by the way."

She ducked back for the last time before speaking from the doorway, ready to enter the hall. "Hey, Ruby?"

"Uh-huh?" she answered.

"I've always wanted bunk beds as a kid." With that, Weiss closed the door.

Ruby looked over to Simon who'd woken up and gave her a thumbs up. She grinned before returning to her notes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so I was going to include a description of Simon's armor (and himself), but I couldn't figure out a good way to describe it nor am I good at describing things in general. I'd draw a picture of it, but my art skills are poor and I'm not sure where to put it or link it.
> 
> For simplicity, most of the inspiration came from Carver's regular suit (the Special Forces Suit) from Dead Space 3, with some changes like different legs and helmet.
> 
> Thank you, and I'll see y'all with the next chapter!


	5. Volume 1, Chapter 4: Jaunedice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weeks into the school year, Jaune has been having trouble with the school bully. A discussion with Simon reveals he's more than human.

**Volume 1, Chapter 4: Jaundice **

* * *

With his mace, The Executioner, perched on his shoulder, Cardin Winchester stared down his opponent, Jaune Arc. He was clearly losing the fight, leaning on Crocea Mors to keep from falling to the arena floor. Their armor shone in the light provided by the spotlight covering the Beacon Academy auditorium stage.

Jaune looked up at Cardin, who laughed at his tired state, and gathered what strength he could to charge and swing his sword at the bigger boy, only to miss when he jumped out of the way. He looked back in surprise long enough to see The Executioner send him and his shield flying back. Getting back up, Jaune brandished his sword with both hands and attempted to attack again.

This time, Cardin blocked the blade with his mace’s hilt. He forced himself up and over Jaune who was struggling against the lock they had their weapons in.

“This is the part where you lose,” Cardin said with a grin.

“Over my dead—” Jaune was cut off by Cardin’s knee hitting his gut, causing him to drop his sword and himself to the ground in pain.

Now free from any counters, Cardin raised his weapon over Jaune’s grounded form with both hands with the intent of finishing him off brutally. Fortunately for a worried Jaune, he was stopped by a buzzer ringing, the lights coming back, and the sound of Glynda Goodwitch’s voice.

“Cardin, that’s enough!” she ordered. He relented and walked off, though remained on the stage as Glynda walked on. Tapping on her tablet, she addressed the audience without looking up. “Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc’s Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match.”

Jaune continued to lay on the floor, defeated, as Pyrrha looked on in sadness. Glynda turned her head to look at the loser of the duel as he pulled out a smaller tablet that showed his low, blinking stats alongside those of the rest of Team JNPR. “Mr. Arc, it’s been weeks now. Please try to refer to your Scroll during combat. Gauging your Aura will help you decide when its appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more… defensive strategy. We wouldn’t want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now, would we?”

“Speak for yourself…” Cardin muttered with an obvious lack of concern or interest.

Glynda returned her attention the audience of students such as: Yang Xiao Long, punching the air in anticipation; Weiss Schnee, shaking her fists with an excited smile; Ruby Rose, shaking her entire body with enthusiastic energy; and Simon Rossi, looking at his teammates with a small, “What the hell?” look on his face before hesitantly focusing on Professor Goodwitch when she started addressing them.

“Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won’t be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!”

The bell signaling the end of class rung, and students started leaving the room. Pyrrha continued to sadly frown at a still-sitting Jaune, who hung his head in shame.

* * *

“So! There we were, in the middle of the night…” Nora spoke ominously to her audience.

“It was day,” Ren corrected in his usually-stoic voice.

“We were surrounded by Ursai…”

Blake payed no attention as she read her book while Yang sat next to her, hands cupping her face as she hung to every word Nora spoke.

“They were Beowolves.” Ren corrected, holding a coffee cup.

“Dozens of them!” Nora yelled as she stood at the table that Teams RWBYS and JNPR shared. They sat in their regular attire while Simon was in his fatigues with a red-and-black digital camouflage. Weiss was filing her nails and doing her best to ignore the hyperactive girl while Ruby and Pyrrha listened politely. Next to them, Jaune played with his food while Simon listened to Nora, occasionally breaking his focus only to take a bite of his lunch.

“Two of ‘em.”

“But they were no match… And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!” Nora finished. Ruby, Simon, and Pyrrha had noticed Jaune’s distant look and were now looking at him in concern.

“She’s been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now,” Ren said with a sigh.

“Not gonna lie, I’m not sure if I should be happy that you two are such good friends that you know what her dreams are enough to correct them, or terrified that you know each other well enough to know what her dreams are enough to correct them,” Simon said.

Ren simply shrugged in response.

Their little conversation was stopped by Pyrrha asking Jaune if he was okay.

“Huh? Oh, yeah! Why?” Jaune asked in surprise as he snapped back to reality.

“It’s just that you seem a little… not okay…” Ruby said.

By now everyone at the table had stopped what they were doing and stared at Jaune, who was trying (and failing) to get them off his back.

“Guys, I’m fine. Seriously! Look!” He held a thumb up while nervously laughing. He stopped when his attention was drawn to the members of Team CRDL at another nearby table sitting and standing around a girl with brown rabbit ears jutting from her hair. Cardin laughed at her as Sky Lark held up his hands to his head, a mocking interpretation of her extra features.

Pyrrha brought his attention back to his table with, “Jaune, Cardin’s been picking on you since the first week of school!”

“Who? Cardin Winchester? Nah… He just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!” Jaune defended.

“He’s a bully,” Ruby stated, not believing Jaune one bit.

Jaune scoffed. “Oh, please! Name one time he’s ‘bullied’ me.”

“Let’s see…” Simon said on the other side of Jaune. He’d caught CRDL around the girl and was leaning back to get a better view of what they were doing. He kept staring at them while speaking to Jaune and the others. “There was the time he knocked your books and papers out of your hands on your way to class.”

“Psssh, everybody’s experienced that.”

“Okay. He activated your shield just as you were going through a doorway. Took five minutes to get you un-stuck.”

“It wasn’t that bad…”

Simon quickly returned to his regular sitting position, staring Jaune down. “When Ms. Goodwitch showed us those rocket lockers, he shoved you into one, closed it, punched in a random set of coordinates, and sent you flying into the sky.”

The others stared at Jaune. Clearly, this was a new one.

“I, uh, didn’t land far from the school…?”

“You also didn’t haul the damn thing out of the river, either.”

Pyrrha stepped back in. “Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask.”

“Oooooh!” Nora sat up from the table with a not-so-sane grin on her face. “We’ll break his legs!”

“You’re scary,” Simon said with ever so slightly widened eyes. “You know that?”

“Guys, really, it’s fine! Besides, it’s not like he’s only a jerk to me; he’s a jerk to everyone.”

As if to prove a point, everyone turned to CRDL when their laughing grew louder and was now mixed with the cries of pain from the rabbit girl as Cardin roughly tugged one of her ears.

“Ow! That hurts!” She stopped struggling and grimaced as she said, “Please, stop…”

“I told you they were real!” Cardin said, ignoring her pleas.

“What a freak!” Russel Thrush laughed as the others continued their harassment.

“Atrocious. I can’t stand people like him,” Pyrrha said with irritation.

Blake glared daggers at the group of bigoted bullies. “He’s not the only one…”

Yang leaned her head on her hand in sadness. “It must be hard to be a Faunus.”

Simon, who’d gone back to staring at CRDL with his mouth slightly open, quickly turned to the others. “Yes. It’s even harder when people—who clearly have a problem with it—simply stand by and watch it happen.”

He spoke with venom in his voice, something that actually took the others by surprise. Before they could do anything, however, he stood up and marched over to where the girl was trying to free herself from Cardin’s hold.

The ringleader in question was too busy laughing with the others to notice the pissed off military officer approaching him until he was roughly shoved. He lost his grip on the Faunus’s ear but managed to regain his balance and not fall. He looked up to see Simon with his arms crossed, putting himself between Cardin and the girl who was watching while rubbing her sore ear.

“Alright, buddy, that’s enough,” Simon spoke, completely serious.

“Aw, what’s the matter? We were just having some fun with the animal,” Cardin countered, not interested in dealing with this guy.

“The lady you were with didn’t seem to be having much fun having herself be grabbed by you. Now you owe her an apology.”

“I ain’t apologizing to no freak of nature who thinks it can walk on equal footing as humans.”

“Winchester, I’m not in the mood for this. You can apologize willingly, or I can get it outta you by force. Decidi tu; your call.”

Cardin stood up straight in an attempt to intimidate the punk who thought he could just talk like that to him for no good reason. Unfortunately, it didn’t work on the guy who was a few inches shorter than him.

If anything, it pushed Simon’s buttons even more.

“You don’t scare me, but you’re really starting to get on my last nerve, asshole!” He leaned ever so slightly. “Now, let’s put a stop to this before it gets ugly.”

“You must not be very bright. I’m the big man in these parts, so I’ll do what I want. Now get lost… you fucking critter-loving jockey.” With that, Cardin gave a very rough shove to Simon, knocking him back into the Faunus.

A few gasps were heard around them after that. Simon pushed himself from the girl who helped catch him, muttering a “Thanks” before he took in what Cardin just did. His eyes narrowed as he sighed at the smirking brute.

“That… was free one. Now, I’m not sure what the meaning of what you just called me is, but I’m damn sure I don’t like it.”

Cardin leaned in one last time. “And what are you gonna do about it, little man?” He began to cock his fist back.

That did it.

In seconds, Simon had his fist curled around the top of Cardin’s armored breastplate and lifted him up into the air. His armored boots now kicked helplessly about a foot in the air as he was shocked by Simon lifting him up one-handed. He began to panic when he saw the glare Simon was giving him.

Cardin was suspended in the air for about three seconds before he was slammed onto the table he and the others had been sitting at moments prior. It didn’t break from the hit, but there was a noticeable bend and creaking as Simon pushed him further into it and planted one leg on top next to Cardin and one on the bench for ease of maintaining his grip, and to push him further across the table.

A few nearby students that had been watching the events unfold had gotten up from their seats to avoid getting caught between the two. His three teammates moved in to get Simon off him so they could gang up on him and kick his ass, but he jerked his head up and pointed to where they stood. “You three stay right there or you’re getting your leader back when I throw him at you.”

When they didn’t move, he turned back to the squirming bully. “As for you: For the last goddamn time: Say you’re sorry, or you become one with the floor !” He pushed even harder, the wooden table crying out for mercy as it seemed to start bending, getting close to splintering.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry!” Cardin finally gave up and forced the words out.

Simon briefly stopped pressing down. “Was that so hard?” He gave Cardin one last press before releasing him, allowing him to breathe and the table to return to normal. He jumped down from the table and bench and walked over to the girl, who was understandably scared.

“Sorry about scaring you, but I gave him the chance to apologize peacefully,” he said, now calm.

“Y-Yeah… It’s a-alright,” she replied.

“Good. Your ear okay?”

“Yes. It’s n-not hurting as much. I-I’m Velvet, by the way.”

“Alright. If he messes with you again, let me know. I’ve faced enough racism and people who felt they were superior to me and others just because of what we are…” Simon trailed off when he noticed Velvet’s eyes widen at something past him.

He quickly spun around just in time to be met with a fist knocking him to the side and to the table. Simon managed to use his arms to keep his chest from ramming into the edge and stayed for a moment. Cardin’s team was now cheering on their leader for his sucker punch, and he started to approach Simon with the intent of doing more damage.

He was stopped when Simon pushed against the table and back up and glared at him. That wasn’t what stopped him, however.

Cardin stopped when he saw Simon’s skin had paled, and his eyes went from amber to a glowing red-orange.

“You brought this upon yourself, asshole. I was actually willing to let you go.”

In a split-second Simon struck out with his palm, sending Cardin across the room and skidding on the floor. The wall of the cafeteria provided a rough stop.

Simon closed his eyes and breathed deeply, and his face and eyes returned to their normal colors. He offered to let Velvet join him and the others at their table, but she turned it down because she had been finished eating and needed to go catch up with her own team. Simon agreed, patted her shoulder, and walked back to his team.

“Now, what were we—”

“That! Was! Awesome!” Nora immediately shouted once Simon sat back down.

“Although a bit much, that was very nice of what you did for the girl,” Pyrrha said.

“Well, I didn’t see any of you standing up to help her, and you’re the ones who’re native to this place. All of you would have a better idea of what the Faunus go through than I would,” Simon stated.

Everyone but him and Weiss looked down in shame. Simon, who was alien to their world, stood up against Cardin’s bullying against a race that he’d never grown up around like they did. They should’ve been the ones to step in.

The snow-themed student looked at him with slight confusion. “What did you mean when you told her about facing racism yourself and others being superior to you? Are you talking about those vampires you were fighting back on Earth?”

“Vicina, Weiss. You’re close. I’ve faced discrimination from some vampires, but I’ve faced more from the humans.”

“But… aren’t you human yourself?”

This brought a look of confusion to his face. “Did Headmaster Ozpin or I never tell any of you about this?”

“No. Matter of fact, Ozpin never directly told us anything since we’re not your teammates; everything we know about you was told to us by you five after your meetings with Ozpin,” Ren pointed out.

His words were true. While some general information about Simon, such as him obviously not being from Remnant, was released to the staff and student body, most everything else was only given either by Ozpin or Simon himself to RWBY. The same information was usually given to JNPR not long after.

“Huh. Thought one of us already told you about it. Anyway, you’d be told sooner or later; this looks just as good a time as any. You see, I’m not a human—not completely, at least. I’m actually a dhampir,” Simon said.

**(A/N: For this story, it’s pronounced “dam-peer”) **

“’Dhampir’? I’m guessing that has something to do with vampires?” Ruby asked.

“It’s a vampire/human hybrid, isn’t it?” Blake responded, turning to Simon for confirmation.

“That’s right. My dad, famous Italian chef Lorenzo Romano Rossi, was human; my mother Rayne was the vampire. I’m the result. One of them, anyway.”

“So you’re part vampire, huh?” Yang asked in a teasing voice. “Do we have to worry about you trying to suck our necks in the night?”

“You’ve known my heritage for less than five minutes and you’re already making racial remarks, Yang? I’d hoped you’d be more accepting of what I am,” Simon deadpanned at her, his good mood gone.

“Oh, I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it that way!” Yang instantly apologized. She didn’t mean to offend Simon.

The hybrid in question raised his hand, silencing her. “Ah, it’s fine. You don’t have much of an idea of what me and my people face on a regular basis back on Earth, and you were simply teasing me with what you had. I don’t mind jokes about it, but I’d prefer it if you’d hold off on them for right now; at least give me some time to know that you’re not trying to use them in a derogative way.”

“Got it, Simon. For what it’s worth, I’m not a racist person, and I’m sorry.”

“No harm done. And no, you don’t have to worry about me biting anyone. I don’t use people for blood.” He stuck out his hand to Yang, who grabbed it. Much to her surprise, he leaned in with a grin and whispered, “Unless, of course, you’re offering…”

With that, he leaned back and released her hand, leaving the blonde to stare at him before smiling.

Pyrrha spoke up when they finished. “So you don’t drink blood? But I thought vampires can’t eat food. Are dhampirs an exception, or something like that?”

Simon turned to her. “It’s… kind of hard to explain. Our vampires can eat food, but they can’t live off it exclusively like humans; they need blood to prevent starvation. We dhampirs can live off either blood or human food, but most—including me—just eat normally.”

Whatever Simon was going to add was stopped by the academy bell ringing, signaling the end of their lunch period. Students all around them began to throw away their trash and head to their next class. Everyone at the table did so as well.

“I’ll tell all of you more later. We got to get to class,” Simon said.

Everyone nodded or spoke in confirmation as they walked out of the lunchroom. Jaune stayed behind for a minute as he watched his friends walk ahead of him, looking down and sighing before moving to put away his tray and catch up with them.

Little did he or anyone else know, Cardin had gotten back to his seat and had overheard the conversation the two teams had. He watched Jaune walk out of the room with a frown on his face that switched to a sinister grin.

* * *

A uniformed Jaune slept with his hand resting in his hands as the professor, Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck, zoomed around the front of the classroom as he fast-talked his hyperactive lecture. Those who were awake to listen to the green-haired, casually-dressed teacher included Simon, Weiss, Blake, Pyrrha, and Velvet. Cardin was also in the same class, leaning back in his chair behind Jaune without care.

“Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution—more popularly known as the Faunus War—humankind was quite, quite, adamant about centralizing the Faunus population in Menagerie.” He stopped in front of a map at the front of the room and pointed to the said area with his stick before zooming off to the side for a sip of his coffee (or whatever hyper-fuel was in his cup) before suddenly appearing in front of his paper-covered desk.

“Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!”

He zoomed around his classroom again, sipping his coffee before continuing. “Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?”

Around the room, some of the students raised their hands. Hesitantly, Velvet did the same after seeing others do the same. Simon was about to before catching on that Dr. Oobleck had asked for the Faunus students, so he kept his hand down.

At least, until Oobleck zoomed closer to him.

“Mr. Rosie, I’m aware of your non-human background on Earth as are many at this academy! Have you faced discrimination from your heritage?” He asked.

“Yes, Doctor. We dhampirs face discrimination from both our human and vampire halves. More so than either one independently, in fact. And it’s not ‘Rosie’, it’s ‘Rossi’. If needed, just call me Simon,” the student in question answered.

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Dr. Oobleck replied with a small smile before returning to the front of the room. “Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence! I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to the White Fang! A once-peaceful rights group now a terrorist organization!

“Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War?” One student—Weiss—raised her hand. ”Yes?”

“The battle at Fort Castle!” She answered.

“Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune’s forces?”

Taking advantage of the teacher not paying him any attention, Cardin wadded up a paper football and flicked it at the sleeping head of Jaune in front of him, waking him up.

“Hey!”

Oobleck zoomed over and got in Jaune’s face. “Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?”

“Uhhhh… The answer… The advantage… that the Faunus…” As Jaune struggled to come up with an answer, Pyrrha caught his attention over Oobleck’s shoulder with a cough and motioned to her lips.

“…had over that guy’s stuff…”

Pyrrha cupped her hands around her eyes. She should have gone with some other way of communicating the answer, however, because Jaune went with the most obvious choice: “Uhh… Binoculars!”

Despite his pleased look, Jaunes answer was only met with the laughter of the class and Oobleck sipping his coffee at the front. Pyrrha facepalmed with a sigh as Cardin pounded his fist on his desk.

“Very funny, Mr. Arc!” Dr. Oobleck said, now behind his desk. “Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject!”

“Well, I know it’s a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier,” the bigoted bully said with a smirk.

“Oh, is that how an undersized ape like you got into this school, Winchester?” Simon asked with a hint of sarcasm.

“Why you little sh—”

“Cardin, I suggest you sit back down,” Simon said as Cardin quickly stood up from his chair. He then added more seriously, “Or I’ll put you through the table this time…”

Cardin hesitated for a moment, but a brief flash of red-orange from Simon’s eyes had him sitting back down, silently glaring the whole time.

Simon faced the front again. “Sorry about that, Dr. Oobleck. Continue.”

“Mr. Simon, please refrain from making threats to other students. Now, do you have any ideas?” Oobleck responded as he took another sip.

“Well, I’m going to admit that I haven’t been reading up on the Faunus as much as I should, so I’m not fully aware of how they compare to humans. Knowing how dhampirs and vampires compare to humans, however, I’m going to guess the answer you’re looking for is either night vision, or enhanced senses. They’re not necessarily the main reason for the Faunus victory, however.”

“’Night vision’ is the answer I was looking for but do tell what it is that you mean.”

“What I mean is that it takes more than one advantage to turn the tide on the battlefield. Night vision without extra equipment is good, but there were likely several other factors that played a role; knowledge of the terrain; whether their officers were experienced or not; how well-trained and motivated troops were; ability to stay supplied; and more. Similar factors that we faced back home against the vampires.”

“Excellent, Mr. Simon! Excellent! A great show of knowledge comparing our world to yours! We’ll have to have a class discussion about your home world and kingdom. Age, history, geography, culture, belief system, Dust Mechanics, local equivalent of Grimm—you must tell me all that you can!”

“I can tell you what I know if you’d like, but I’d prefer it if we could schedule it for some other time. There’s a lot to talk about, especially if you want specifics and necessary information, and I’d need time to gather notes and what to talk about.”

“Fair enough, Mr. Simon. See me when you have some free time and we’ll start planning.” Oobleck then zoomed over to stand in front of Jaune and Cardin. “Mr. Winchester, you and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings.”

Jaune could only groan as his shoulders slumped and Oobleck zoomed away with, “Now! Moving on!”

* * *

Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, and Simon walked out of Oobleck’s classroom when the lesson ended. Pyrrha stopped near the doorway and turned to her friends and said, “You go on ahead. I’ll wait for Jaune.”

Instead, they all looked back inside as the professor addressed the two boys.

“You two have been struggling gin my class since day one! Now, I don’t know if it’s a lack of interest, or just your stubborn nature, but whatever it is…” Oobleck paused and took a long drink of his coffee. “It stops now! You’ve worked hard to gain entrance to this school, and we only accept the best of the best, so I expect you to act like it. History is important, gentlemen! If you can’t learn from it, then you’re destined to repeat it. Pages 51 to 91! I want an essay on my desk by next class! Now, run along.”

With that, Oobleck zoomed out of the room in a green and white blur past a waiting Pyrrha. Jaune walked out first with Cardin emerging from behind him. The bigger boy then pushed the blond to the ground, his “Ow!” making him laugh until he spotted Simon looking at him, arms crossed.

“What are you looking at, freak?” Cardin spat.

“Hmmm… How many guesses do I get?” Simon snarked back.

Cardin growled before stomping off down the hall as Pyrrha finished helping Jaune back up.

“You know, I really will break his legs,” she said, recalling her teammate’s words from lunch. She looked at Jaune who sighed before a look of inspiration covered her.

“I have an idea! Come with me!” Pyrrha grabbed a confused Jaune by his arm and ran off with him down the corridor, leaving Nora, Ren, and Simon to look on at the two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the reveal about Simon. I really enjoy Dhampirs, and I do wish there were more portrayals of them (besides Blade). 
> 
> Also, I’d like it if anyone posted some in-story questions for Simon when he talks to Oobleck’s class. He’s from our world, but if our world sucked a bit more in the future. This will be in a chapter between Volume 1 and 2, and I’ll have another chapter before this one where Simon will show off his gear and weapons to the rest of Team RWBYS (since I never got the chance to write it into an earlier chapter).


End file.
